Chosen
by Lady Leita
Summary: It is choosing day, and somewhere among the grubs lay the Sufferer's descendant. Karkat meets Crabdad. Oneshot-may write more if response is good. Dedicated to my buddy Mel.


It was choosing day.

The grubs lay snug in their craters, content to be alive and to have survived the first culling. They cooed and giggled and cried, unconcerned about the adult Trolls that stood at a distance and held back all manner of pure white beasts, waiting in anticipation.

It was time for the grubs to find their lusus.

Or, rather, it was time for the lusi to choose their grubs.

A certain sect of people waited with bated breath. Among the multi-colored grubs, hidden amongst the rust bloods, lay a small male grub with blood the color of cherry candy.

It was a miracle he'd survived. It was a miracle he was _born_. Now, all that was left to do was see if a lusus would choose him.

They had prepared for this day as well as they possibly could. Their savior, the descendent of the Sufferer, needed a proper troll upbringing and they had bred a lusus to be the perfect guardian—strong and fierce, to protect the tiny grub from those who would wish to harm him, but caring and protective enough to ensure he reaches adulthood.

This lusus was currently in the hand of its Handler, a green blood who had raised him from an egg. The lusus turned toward his Handler and growled impatiently, beady eyes glittering in the dim light. He was a crab-like creature with large, sharp claws, his carapace gleaming in the flickering light of torches. He shifted uneasily, wary of all these other creatures, curious to begin investigating the tiny, strange smelling creatures before him.

At the signal, the handlers—trolls especially chosen from all classes, from the lowly rust-bloods to the high, sea-dwelling purple bloods—released the beasts.

The lusi set out, picking among the grubs to seek their favorite.

A small grub with ridiculously large horns in the orange section instantly gained a lot of attention. He cooed happily as a number of lusi gathered around him, purring and thrumming and hissing softly at the grub. His full attention, however, was focused on the lusus that was sitting at his head—a small, bull like creature with fairy wings and huge horns. It snorted menacingly at the other lusi, some which were more than ten times its size, and nuzzled its snout into the soft tuft of hair on the tiny grub's head.

The Handler was more interested in his crab lusus, which was slowly picking its way through a cluster of green-bloods. It sniffed at some, completely ignored others, but chose none.

It then encountered a large, two-mouthed cat lusus, which hissed and crouched in preparation for an attack, whipping its tail back and forth. The crab creature snarled and screeched, waving its claws and stomping the ground, narrowly missing a lime-green female grub that shrieked with excitement. The crab creature moved on, and the cat lusus purred and licked the hair of the happily giggling grub, which attempted to purr back at her new lusus.

Excitement was happening in the water-dweller area as well. A female grub with imperial purple blood had been discovered, giggling happily with a royal-purple-blooded male. The attendants quickly rushed to the side of the new empress-in-waiting, determined to bring her to Gl'bgolb. The small, royal-purple grub cried out in dismay, only to be silenced when a large, seahorse-like lusus swam up to him and nuzzled him gently with its snout.

The empress-in-waiting giggled and waved her tiny legs goodbye at the small grub, cooing in delight at all the wondrous lusi gathered around.

The crab lusus, however, couldn't have cared less. Slowly it worked its way towards the rust bloods. If he hadn't been mistaken, the lusus' Handler would've sworn he was doing it deliberately.

There was a commotion over with the rust bloods, however, and their neighbors the yellow-bloods. Two lusi faced off, growling at each other—a small, almost serpentine creature with large ram horns and a two-headed biclops with one red, one blue eye hissed and snarled. On the back of the ram-horned one lay a rust-blooded female with large, curled horns. She smiled broadly at the mustard-yellow grub in the biclops's hand, a male with one blue, one red eye and a double set of horns. Eventually the two lusi turned their backs on one another and left.

And _still_ the crab lusus meandered through the grubs, finally entering the area of the rust-bloods.

Over in the section of the blue bloods, a large spider-lusus picked a giggling, blue-blooded female and left. Near the edge of the water, a purple-blooded land dweller was confronted with a sea-goat lusus, which happily flipped the laughing grub up onto its head. A centaurian lusus picks up a small blue-blood, who gives its arm an experimental whack. The lusus winces, the bruise already forming, and carries the grub out.

Suddenly, the room got quiet as death. Even the grubs, young as they were, fell silent.

A mother grub had entered the room.

She was young. A virgin mother grub. She flitted around the room, pausing to examine the green-bloods. Then, suddenly, she lands, purring.

Gently, she picks up a jade-green female, who reaches out with a leg and gently strokes her new lusus's face.

Nothing like that has happened as far as anyone could remember.

And then it happened again when a wide-eyed adult troll bearing the symbol of the dragon-keepers wandered into the teal bloods patch, stopping at a small female who was already sporting a grin full of sharp teeth. "It wants you," the dragon-keeper whispered as he picked up the girl, and walked off.

This was simply the strangest batch of grubs that anyone had ever seen. A new empress. A mother grub choosing to become a lusus. A dragon lusus choosing a grub.

And somewhere, the new sufferer waited for its lusus to find him.

The crab lusus stopped, suddenly.

The Handler crept closer, readying the blanket it had prepared for the lusus to pick up the little grub with.

There he was. The spitting image of the sufferer, a body of bright cherry red topped with a messy tuft of hair and two small, nubby horns. He stared defiantly up at the crab lusus, who stared down curiously at the little grub.

The crab creature bent down, giving the tiny grub an experimental sniff.

The Handler held his breath.

Then, the tiny Sufferer lifted a little stick leg and gave the lusus a hard whap on the nose.

The lusus stepped back, startled, and then crept forward, eager to see this young grub, to smell his scent. With a soft purr of approval, it nuzzled the little grub under the chin.

The grub squealed and pouted at the indignity.

Trolls didn't usually feel joy. The undercurrent of rage usually took that emotion away from them.

But the Handler felt like he could sing. Like he could fly. Like it was time to get up and dance, crying his joy to the heavens.

Instead, he settled for a broad smile—too broad, in the presence of the Condesce's agents—that crept across his face as he leaned forward and began to tuck the blanket under the grub.

His—no, the grub's, now—lusus growled at him, already protective of its charge. _Good_.

The grub was focused on something else entirely. His eyes were fixed on the necklace that had somehow slipped from the safe confines of the Handler's shirt and was now dangling in the open air. The pendant, dull gray, only just reflected the light.

He made a motion to tuck it back away, safely hidden, but the grub shrieked in protest and the lusus growled.

Smiling softly, the Handler slipped the necklace over his head and handed it to the grub, who immediately picked it up in its front legs (showing a surprising amount of precision) and began examining it.

Swiftly he tucked the grub into the blanket, and the lusus picked him up in its claws. The grub squealed in delight at its sudden movement and tried to escape, his legs skittering uselessly on his new lusus's carapace. The lusus turned and headed down a side tunnel to the surface.

The Handler watched them fondly.

The Sufferer's descendant would be just fine. His legacy would live on.

And, for the first time since the Sufferer began to preach,

They had hope.

* * *

><p>Dedicated to my bestest buddy Mel. HERE YOU GO I WROTE IT JEEZ<p> 


End file.
